Dosimetric comparison of five different techniques for craniospinal irradiation across 15 European centers: analysis on behalf of the SIOP-E-BTG (radiotherapy working group)

Enrica Seravalli, Mirjam Bosman, Yasmin Lassen-Ramshad, Anne Vestergaard, Foppe Oldenburger, Jorrit Visser, Efi Koutsouveli, Chryssa Paraskevopoulou, Gail Horan, Thankamma Ajithkumar, Beate Timmermann, Carolina-Sofia Fuentes, Gillian Whitfield, Thomas Marchant, Laetitia Padovani, Eloise Garnier, Lorenza Gandola, Silvia Meroni, Bianca A W Hoeben, Martijn KustersClaire Alapetite, Sandra Losa, Farid Goudjil, Henriette Magelssen, Morten Egeberg Evensen, Frank Saran, Gregory Smyth, Barbara Rombi, Roberto Righetto, Rolf-Dieter Kortmann, Geert O Janssens

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleAcademicpeer-review

Abstract

PURPOSE: Conventional techniques (3D-CRT) for craniospinal irradiation (CSI) are still widely used. Modern techniques (IMRT, VMAT, TomoTherapy®, proton pencil beam scanning [PBS]) are applied in a limited number of centers. For a 14-year-old patient, we aimed to compare dose distributions of five CSI techniques applied across Europe and generated according to the participating institute protocols, therefore representing daily practice.

MATERIAL AND METHODS: A multicenter (n = 15) dosimetric analysis of five different techniques for CSI (3D-CRT, IMRT, VMAT, TomoTherapy®, PBS; 3 centers per technique) was performed using the same patient data, set of delineations and dose prescription (36.0/1.8 Gy). Different treatment plans were optimized based on the same planning target volume margin. All participating institutes returned their best treatment plan applicable in clinic.

RESULTS: The modern radiotherapy techniques investigated resulted in superior conformity/homogeneity-indices (CI/HI), particularly in the spinal part of the target (CI: 3D-CRT:0.3 vs. modern:0.6; HI: 3D-CRT:0.2 vs. modern:0.1), and demonstrated a decreased dose to the thyroid, heart, esophagus and pancreas. Dose reductions of >10.0 Gy were observed with PBS compared to modern photon techniques for parotid glands, thyroid and pancreas. Following this technique, a wide range in dosimetry among centers using the same technique was observed (e.g., thyroid mean dose: VMAT: 5.6-24.6 Gy; PBS: 0.3-10.1 Gy).

CONCLUSIONS: The investigated modern radiotherapy techniques demonstrate superior dosimetric results compared to 3D-CRT. The lowest mean dose for organs at risk is obtained with proton therapy. However, for a large number of organs ranges in mean doses were wide and overlapping between techniques making it difficult to recommend one radiotherapy technique over another.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)1240-1249
Number of pages10
JournalActa Oncologica
Volume57
Issue number9
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Sept 2018

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